Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Julie McCrossin gets people talking and she is renowned for her warmth, humour, intelligence and commitment to social justice.

After 20 years as a broadcaster with ABC Radio National, ABC TV and Network Ten, she is now a freelance journalist and facilitator. She presented the radio show Life Matters on ABC Radio National for 5 years, covering countless health, welfare and educational topics with a frequent rural focus. Julie was also a team leader on the media quiz show “Good News Week” for 5 years on Network Ten and ABC TV.

Currently Julie writes for the NSW Law Society Journal and facilitates conferences and seminars nationally. Julie offers a range of interactive formats that stimulate audience discussion while keeping people on topic and on time. Julie is especially known for her capacity to guide forums on sensitive topics, such as suicide prevention, mental health, child protection and family law.

VERY BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Julie McCrossin gets people talking. After 20 years as a broadcaster with ABC Radio National, ABC TV and Network Ten, she is now a freelance journalist and broadcaster. Julie writes for the NSW Law Society Journal and facilitates conferences and seminars. Julie has qualifications in the arts, education and law. After treatment for stage 4 throat cancer in 2013, Julie is now an Ambassador for Beyond Five, Targeting Cancer and TROG Cancer Research. Julie hosts the podcast series, The Thing About Cancer for Cancer Council NSW. www.juliemccrossin.com

2017 MARRIAGE EQUALITY BIO

Julie McCrossin bio & gay liberation history

Julie McCrossin is a broadcaster and journalist. Julie writes for the NSW Law Society Journal and facilitates conferences nationally. For over 20 years, Julie was a broadcaster with ABC Radio National. She was also a team leader on the media quiz show Good News Week on Network Ten and ABC TV for five years. Julie has co-hosted several TV broadcasts for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Julie became active in Gay Liberation at Sydney University in 1974. She attended countless demonstrations and was arrested many times. Julie remembers forming close friendships with men in Gay Lib as well as meeting many women in the cells behind the Central Court of Petty Sessions in Liverpool Street where demonstrators were often taken in that era. In 1978, Julie was part of the morning demonstration in the city. Later that night, she joined the crowd of activists outside Darlinghurst Police Station when the 53 people arrested at the first Mardi Gras at Kings Cross were taken there. Her most vivid memory of that time is the wall of police blocking the entrance to the Central Court of Petty Sessions when the people arrested had to later appear in court.

Julie remembers the gay activism of the 1970s and early 80s as a time of trauma, but also of exciting comradeship and cathartic release. She says it was a joy to fight back against the gross discrimination of that era before homosexuality was decriminalised. In September 2017, to mark the approaching 40 year anniversary of Mardi Gras, Julie spoke about those wild times for Antidote at the Sydney Opera House in 2017 and for a special episode of Compass on ABC TV, entitled, The Power of Love, in which Julie interviewed 78ers.

Julie is a long-term advocate for marriage equality. She spoke in favour of same-sex marriage at The Sydney Institute in 1999 and again in 2017. When she was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer in 2013, Julie asked her partner of over 20 years, Melissa Gibson to marry her. In 2014, Julie and Melissa married in Manhattan in the presence of their two adult children, Luke and Amelia.